English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Slang Dictionary — Modern Slang, Decoded

What does that word actually mean? Our slang dictionary explains modern slang clearly — Gen Z, internet, British and street slang — with real definitions, examples and where each term came from.

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Gen Z Slangrizz, delulu, slay Internet Slangbrainrot, based, mid British Slangpeng, bare, peak AAVEbussin, finna, cap

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Latest slang terms

Black-humour chart-room acronym for the elderly, terminal patient who's been 'actively dying' for three weeks and is still on the ward. Sometimes parsed as 'Fixin' to Die.' Reflects the moral fatigue of geriatric and palliative work more than any cruelty — these are usually the patients staff care for most.

An identity label used inside the sex-work community to distinguish providers who offer penetrative sex from those doing adjacent work — strippers, cam models, OnlyFans creators, pro-doms. Carries weight in worker-rights discussions because FSSWs face the sharpest legal risk and stigma.

Cubans say 'frutabomba' for papaya because 'papaya' is vulgar slang there.

The front room or formal living room of a house, reserved for entertaining guests, rendered in the Chicago accent.

The multicolored array of service ribbons worn on the chest of a dress uniform, so called for its resemblance to a bowl of mixed fruit.

A batted ball hit so hard and on such a flat, straight line that it looks like a taut, stretched rope.

Having a stale, sweaty or musty odour. Also frowzy.

The feeling of being hyped, excited or stoked, often to an over-the-top degree. A 'frother' is someone perpetually buzzing about surf.

Describes being cool-headed, alert, and watchful, especially on guard or in a tense tactical situation — 'stay frosty.'

A trick executed while facing toward the ramp or obstacle, or a rotation in which the toe edge (chest side) turns forward first.

The leading edge of your team, usually the tank, who makes space and eats the first wave of fire so the squishies behind can work.

To pretend not to care when you actually do.

Acting pretentiously, showing off, or putting up a front to look bigger than you are.

When a broker or trader uses advance knowledge of a pending client order to put on a position first, profiting from the price move that order will cause, then unwinding into the client's flow. A fiduciary breach and a securities violation. In crypto and DeFi the same idea shows up as MEV bots front-running pending transactions in the mempool.

front leaning rest

The official name for the push-up position, into which troops are ordered as corrective physical training and made to hold.

The first truck in a convoy — eyes forward, calling out smokeys, weigh stations, and slowdowns up ahead. Position of responsibility. If the front door misses a bear, the whole line pays for it.

To act inauthentically — pretending to have money, interest, or toughness you don't. 'Stop fronting' calls out the fakery.

Refers to a shot launched from the three-point area, far from the basket.

An extremely heavy, sudden downpour; a vivid Gulf-states term for torrential rain.

The road. Almost always in the phrase 'hit the frog and toad' — get moving, get on your way.

Frightened. Old Midlands / East Midlands past-tense of 'fright' that the Black Country and Brum kept going. Made national news in 1983 when Margaret Thatcher — a Lincolnshire girl — barked 'Afraid? Frightened? Frit?' at Labour MPs in the Commons, which sent half of Fleet Street to the dictionary.

The situation in which one person wants a romantic relationship but the other regards them only as a friend.

friend of dorothy

A discreet code for a gay man, used when being out could get you arrested or worse. Asking 'are you a friend of Dorothy?' was a way to quietly find your people without saying the dangerous part out loud. It traces to Judy Garland — gay icon, and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz — though some point to the writer Dorothy Parker. The term dates back at least to World War II.

friday fish fry

A weekly Friday dinner of battered, fried fish (cod, perch, haddock, or walleye) with sides, served at taverns and supper clubs.